


As a Rope to a Drowning Man

by Muccamukk



Category: Iron Man (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avengers Vol. 3 (1998), Bathing/Washing, Epilogue, Established Relationship, First Aid, Living Armor - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-01 05:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13287738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/pseuds/Muccamukk
Summary: Following the incident with the Living Armor, Tony would like to lick his wounds in peace. Rhodey and Steve have other plans.





	As a Rope to a Drowning Man

**Author's Note:**

> Contains: canon-typical body horror around Tony's new heart. Ignores the _IM_ issues following the Living Armor arc.
> 
> Big thanks to Kiyaar for beta reading.

About six hours after Tony jury rigged the distress signal, Rhodey came and got him. What was better, he didn't say a damn word on the whole flight back to New York, even though the Bikini Atolls were a solid eight hours away. He just gave Tony a blanket and some ration packs, told him to stay hydrated and get some sleep, and flew the damn plane.

Tony pulled the blanket over himself and curled into a ball on the jet's bunk. He didn't want to talk. He didn't even want to think about what had happened on the island, to him, to his armor, to his heart. At the same time, it took too long to fall asleep, and when he woke as the wheels hit tarmac at La Guardia, he didn't feel like he'd rested at all. He wished he could sleep like Steve: shut his eyes and out like a light for six hours.

Rhodey drove them back to Tony's apartment, making some noise about getting him checked out, but generally being less of a mother hen than usual. Tony only figured out why when he was inside, the door was shut, and it was too late.

"Tony!" Captain America was sitting next to the windows, book in his lap, and he definitely had his concerned face on, visible even under his mask. Tony slumped.

"You bastard," he muttered at Rhodey, knowing Steve's hearing would certainly pick it up.

"Hey, we did a study," Rhodey said, holding his hands up like he was the one who'd been ambushed. "And we proved, with science, that you don't listen to a word I say. I don't want to have to sit on you until you heal up!"

"I don't listen to Cap, either," Tony said, still under his breath.

"Sure you do," Rhodey said.

Steve forced a smile and added, "If it comes to sitting on you, Rhodes is bigger, but I'm faster and have longer reach."

Rhodey shook his head. "Thanks, Cap."

Tony hadn't even realized they were steering him into the apartment's rarely-used kitchen until he was sitting on a stool, and Steve was peeling the blanket off his shoulders. He sucked in breath when he saw the monstrosity in Tony's chest. Tony was watching his face, waiting for him to flinch and look away from the raw flesh and twisted metal. But he didn't, not even as Rhodey swore under his breath and left the room. Well, fifty percent wasn't bad, Tony thought dizzily.

"I may have had a heart attack," he said.

"Clearly," Steve said. His mouth was turned down, but Tony could tell from his eyes that he was pissed off rather than grossed out.

Rhodey came back then, with a portable medical scanner and Jocasta's avatar hovering over him. He hadn't left. He'd gone to get help. "Right," he said, face grim. "Let's see what you've done to yourself this time."

* * *

Tony eventually convinced Rhodey and Steve that going to a hospital wouldn't help, which had the benefit of being true, but didn't manage to get either of them to go home so he could lick his wounds in peace.

Rhodey did leave, saying he had an actual job, dammit, and left Tony with Steve, who was watching him thoughtfully. He'd pushed his cowl back when Rhodey left, which magnified his concerned face by a factor of ten, especially since blond stubble was starting to show along his jawline.

Before Tony could tell him to go away, Steve knelt on the tiled floor and took his battered hands. "Let me patch these up," he said.

Tony nodded numbly, and let Steve pick through the first aid box. He took his gloves off to open an antiseptic swab, and when he took Tony's hand again, his fingers were warm. His hands always felt softer than Tony thought they should, and they could be so gentle. "Ow!" Tony grumbled as Steve got antiseptic into a scrape. "You're supposed to clean around it!"

"Sorry," Steve muttered, and he sounded so contrite that Tony felt bad for scolding him. This was so much better than doing it himself. He thought of all the fights Iron Man had gotten mixed up in before anyone had known his identity, where he'd come in bleeding, half dead sometimes, and had to patch himself up well enough to be the face of Stark Industries the next day.

"No," Tony said, turning his hand so he could squeeze Steve's, and making Steve crumble the bandage he'd been trying to put on. "No, I'm glad you're here. Thank you."

Steve looked up at him, eyes stunningly blue under long blond lashes, enough sincerity in his expression to break Tony's heart, if he still had one. "Of course, Tony," he said. "You know I'll always be here."

"Yeah," Tony said, even if he didn't believe it. A lot of people told him things like that, and none of them had ever kept their word when the wheels came off. Sticking by Tony Stark was too generous a promise, even for Captain America. He let Steve turn his hand again, then worked his way up the scrapes on his arms, hissing again at the abrasions on his wrists where he'd been tied to the the trees.

"You really went through the wringer," Steve said, cleaning the blood off Tony's cheekbones. Most of it was from his broken nose, and his goatee was sticky with it. Steve went to the sink to soak a cloth in warm water. Tony closed his eyes and pretended that the loss of his touch didn't take his breath away. He felt like he was back on the atoll for a moment, but then Steve's hand was on his knee, and the warm cloth was rubbing through his beard. "I don't think you'll need to reset the nose," Steve said, tilting his head from one side to the other to assess the angle. "But you're going to have a heck of a double shiner once the blood pools."

"Yeah," Tony muttered. He was hoping he could just hide in his lab for possibly the next year. He sighed. Like that was going to happen.

"Hey," Steve said, ducking to catch Tony's eye before sliding his fingers through Tony's filthy hair and tipping Tony's head forward until their foreheads touched. "You're okay," Steve breathed more than said. "You're okay."

"Would you sleep with me?" Tony asked, knowing that for Steve it was as much as doing a press release under the headline: _Tony Stark a Needy Wreck. Film at Eleven._

"Of course," Steve said, and then pulled away and started clucking over Tony's scraped feet. His ankles, too, were cut by the ropes his armor had bound him with, and it took Steve about a year to finish cleaning and binding everything worse than a papercut.

"Come on," Steve said, goddamn finally, and drew Tony to his feet. "Is your chest going to be okay?"

"Jocasta says it will be," Tony answered, though he left out the details. It had charge enough for a few more days, at which point Tony was going to have to figure out what to do about that. Ten years later, and he might as well be back in that tin can. "Damn," he muttered, but let Steve steer him into the bedroom. He craved a shower, but was too tired and just wanted Steve's arms around him.

Steve stripped down to his underwear, leaving his costume folded on the back of a chair and his boots lined up under it. Tony wished he had the energy to do something about how gorgeous Steve was, but in the end he just stripped naked to crawl under the covers and curl up so that Steve could spoon behind him.

"We'll figure it out later," Steve said, putting a rest to all the things that might keep Tony awake. They wouldn't have tonight anyway. Tony had been awake for days, and finally, after all he'd been though, he felt safe enough to sleep.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [My Mallory Heart [Add Violence Remix]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13358121) by [Kiyaar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiyaar/pseuds/Kiyaar)




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